


these happy golden days

by MargaritaDaemonelix



Series: lonashipping week 2019 [5]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pocket Monsters: Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon | Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon Versions
Genre: F/M, Insomnia, Lonashipping Week 2019, Pre-Relationship, Travel, passho berries are dry and bitter according to bulbapedia, the quartet means so much to me okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-23 09:24:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20006014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MargaritaDaemonelix/pseuds/MargaritaDaemonelix
Summary: a two a.m. talk with Moon reminds Gladion of everything he deserves to have./lonashipping week | day 5: family





	these happy golden days

The Passho berry tea that Lillie so swears by seems utterly useless at two in the morning.

Gladion opens his eyes and stares at the top bunk for what must be the millionth time, blinking blankly at the smooth wood and the little graffiti marks that have been meticulously washed off. Being tired is one thing; being able to sleep is another.

Besides, Hau's snoring is starting to get a little overwhelming.

He shifts his legs out from under his unzipped sleeping bag, slipping his feet into his ratty sneakers and sitting up. While insomnia hasn't reared its ugly head in his sleep schedule in a while now, he knows better than anyone that it can get out of hand much too easily.

(Arceus knows he never needs to spend another night panicking as the sun comes up and the Oricorios start to sing their songs at five.)

The Pokemon Centre is many things, but a home it is not, and Gladion isn't sure if he'll ever find it one. There's probably still hot water in the dispenser; he rifles through his bag until he finds his water bottle, and then again to find his Umbreon's pokeball. Nocturnal Pokemon do often need to take walks in the night, regardless of being adjusted to daytime schedules.

Umbreon comes out of her pokeball looking uninterested, though her golden hoops immediately light up the hallway. She licks the back of her paw and brushes it across the top of its head, as if to say  _ really? You couldn't live with your failures, and look where it brought you: back to me. _

"Oh, shut it," he says. Umbreon chortles and follows after him.

There is still some hot water in the dispenser, though it's lukewarm at best now. He pours it directly into his bottle anyways, letting it sit on the Passho berry mush for a moment before he swirls it around and takes a chug. It tastes awful. He drinks it anyways.

There’s a churring sound from nearby, and to his surprise, Umbreon perks up and bounds off. “Hey, wait up,” he says, following the rapidly-dimming glow of the rings. “Where are you going now?”

And as if that wasn’t surprising enough, Moon is sitting on the balcony, feet dangling over the edge, nursing a mug of something that looks awfully like Passho berry tea. Her Decidueye is already playing with his Umbreon, the two jesting back and forth as he pushes open the balcony door and steps outside.

“Can’t sleep either?” he asks, sitting down beside her. Moon nods, not even facing him. There’s a look on her face that’s stuck between dreamy and stormy, and he can’t quite tell what it means. “You’re drinking Lillie’s insomnia tea, too, aren’t you.”

“It’s awful,” she replies. “I put honey in it and it just got worse.”

“Good to know.”

It’s surprising to see her out this late, but she doesn’t seem phased by the twilight hours, or the chill in the breeze. Her hair clings to her back, still damp, and leaves a train of dark blossoms across the back of the t-shirt she calls a pajama top.

Then again, it’s not like Gladion’s pajamas are much better.

“How are you finding Kanto so far?” Moon asks, shaking him from his thoughts. “The food, the scenery, the Pokemon?”

He can’t help but hide a smile at that. “It’s been pretty fun. I miss the cafes at Pokemon Centres back home, but having people be so awestruck at Silvally is kinda satisfying, I’ll admit. I’m sure he appreciates the attention, as well.”

Moon hums. “And?”

That’s the part that’s been haunting him for so long—the existing  _ and _ , the next part of the equation that just remains out of reach. “And,” he echoes, “the food’s not as good as back home.”

This elicits a snort out of her. “Not what you said when we were at that  _ oden _ stand in Lavender.”

“Okay, so konjac is delicious, sue me, but…” He takes another sip of his tea, finding it only marginally more palatable than the last. “If you tell anyone else this, I will sic Silvally on you, but I actually kinda miss malasadas.”

And once again, he’s surprised when Moon nods in agreement. “It seems like a lifetime ago that I lived here,” she muses, swishing her tea around in its bottle. “I remember being so upset that I couldn’t get my favourite Kantonian snacks when I first landed in Alola, but now, all I want is that curry that Mallow makes.”

"Arceus, I know. And the malasadas from the cafe next to Ilima's place?"

"The gelato place in Heahea that sells the Pecha berry gelato,” she says wistfully. “You always get the vanilla with extra sprinkles.”

He nods.

The calm that comes after that is anything but peaceful. As Moon continues to sip her tea, Gladion’s mind runs away, leaving him behind in the dust. Every day of this trip so far has been a whirlwind, and he can’t deny the ticking of time and the plane ticket back to Alola that spells dread for him.

“I can  _ hear _ you thinking,” Moon says, sounding amused. “What’s on your mind?”

Gladion freezes—and then relaxes, because this is Moon, and he can trust her with this. “I don’t want to go back,” he admits. “Even though I miss Alola, it’s just…”

“You don’t want to let go of the squad,” she guesses, and the guilt must show on his face because she gives him a tiny sympathetic smile. “Because you’ll go back to being president of Aether, and Lillie will stay here with your mother, and Hau’s gonna go back to being kahuna, and I’ll be back up on Lanakila waiting for someone to come kick my ass in a battle.”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to kick your ass, Moon.”

“That’s what you think.” She glares out over the balcony, towards the forest below, as if that will make her invincible for a little longer. “I’ve gotten a challenge invitation from Champion Red in the Kanto League.” She lets out a little laugh. “I’m a little scared, to be honest. He’s a legend.”

The reverence in her tone echoes through the night, splitting a seam into the twilight sky.

“I’m sure you’ll give him a good fight,” Gladion says. “What did he do back in his day, fight the mafia? Stop a bunch of hooligans? You did that  _ and _ stopped an alien invasion of Alola. You can kick his ass.”

Moon smiles wryly. “Thanks.” She sighs. “I’ve gotten sidetracked. My point is, you’re afraid of losing the squad again once we go back home. You’re afraid we’ll all lose contact and drift apart.”

As much as he hates to admit it, she’s right. “How is it that you’re able to put my thoughts into words?” he asks, feeling the corners of his mouth lift up. “I’d rather stay travelling with you and Hau and Lillie, and it’s not because I hate paperwork.”

“Gladion, I don’t think any of us like paperwork.” She puts her hand over his. “You ever hear the saying  _ blood is thicker than water?” _

He nods.

“It’s not the complete version,” she says. “The full version says  _ the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. _ It means that the relationships you form by choice are stronger than those that are forced upon you. It also means,” she adds, “that the ties you make with found family will last an eternity.”

As if to punctuate her point, she takes another sip of her tea, and immediately makes a face afterward. “We won’t drift,” she insists, “even if Lillie stays in Kanto forever, even if Hau decides to move to Galar, even if I, I dunno, beat the champion of Kalos and have to constantly fly between Kalos and Alola to maintain my two championships—”

“Kalos,” Gladion repeats, raising an eyebrow. “You  _ hate _ Kalosian food.”

“Oh, you get my point. We won’t drift apart,” she says again, a little quieter this time. “These times travelling with you and Hau and Lillie—and when we were younger—they’ve been the happiest times in my life.”

(He’d never admit it, but Gladion thinks so too. He’s going to miss this a lot.

But his found family will last beyond the borders of their very small, very isolated, very tropical region. Alola is only so large, right?)

There’s a beep as his watch chimes a painful three am. to him, but for once it doesn’t feel lonely. Moon lays her head on his shoulder as Decidueye and Umbreon slip through the door to rest beside them, a warm comfort in a breezy night.

“Gladion,” Moon says, looking up at him with dewy eyes, and he’s  _ almost _ certain he’s got her surprises down this time, but then, “do you think we can pretend we drank the stupid tea and get away with it?”

He leans out, just a little, over the balcony. While it’s only one story, and it’s just forest below, he’s not particularly interested in pouring the darn tea over the edge. Then again, he’s also not brave enough to finish the rest of the tea.

“Eh, forget about it.” He wraps an arm around her back, pulls her in a little closer, and closes his eyes as he lays his head on hers. “It’s just tea.”

He doesn’t think he’ll need another cup of Passho berry tea to sleep comfortably tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> the passho berry is based off the passionfruit, which is the fruit of the passionflower, which is supposed to be good for insomnia. in reality this is just because i couldn't find a Pokemon-universe equivalent of chamomile tea  
> also lemme tell you, there really is nothing more terrifying than being awake at 5 am and unable to sleep because the birds are chirping and your sister is sleeptalking and man does she say some weird shit when asleep


End file.
